A FAREWELL TO ARMS was David Selznick’s last movie. Just eighteen years earlier he had made GONE WITH THE WIND and was titan in the industry. The intervening years had been difficult for the man both professionally and personally. By the mid-1940s he had fallen in love with Jennifer Jones, an actress he had systematically transformed in a star of the first rank, and would eventually divorce his first wife Irene Mayer Selznick (daughter of LB Mayer) to Mary Jones. Although he tried…

As I hadn’t read the bestselling book—just heard about it—when I went to see THE GODFATHER in March 1972 I knew very little about the story. Thus, I came to it fresh. Since the film had opened nation-wide ten days after it premiered I went with my first wife the weekend after it opened. The movie theater had a massive screen—perhaps the biggest screen I had ever seen. And, as I like to sit in the front row center, the only thing in my line…

Doing my research for the Amberson website, I found a few Orson Welles anecdotes that I found particularly enjoyable. So, I am posting a bit of mirth.     WELLES 1 It is sometime in the late 1940s. I think Monte Carlo.   Welles now an independent film maker trying to raise money was walking into a hotel dining room with a perspective backer. Who should be sitting there; Winston Churchill between his first and second time as Prime minister. He sees Welles and as the…

    Number of years ago I was eating in a New York restaurant when I looked up and noticed Ingrid Bergman’s eldest child, Pia Lindstrom, a short distance away eating dinner with her two young sons—Justin and Nicholas Daly—Ingrid Bergman’s grand-children. I knew Lindstrom by sight because she was the film and theater critic for a local New York TV News program. What I found fascinating watching them was how utterly disciplined her children were.   They ate quietly, and when they finished eating went…

        Following the release of Disney’s TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA in 1954 and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS in 1956, for the next six or seven years Jules Verne—as far as the movies were concerned—became a pretty hot author with a film adaptation of one of his books appearing every year or so. My favorite of these follow-ups was JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.               I first saw it at the…

Like most of the (as they were called back then) pre-48 studio films, Casablanca hit local television in the late 50s and early 1960s. This Warner Brothers package was leased to the local New York station Channel 5.  Since back then Channel 5 wasn’t associated with a network (it is now part of the Fox Network) it could run old films during prime time as well as in the morning and “Late” show. So, it was on channel 5 that I first saw CASABLANCA mixed…

                    I first saw Wayne’s THE ALAMO sitting in my fifth row center Aisle seat at the Wakefield. (As you should know by now it was my favorite seat at that theater.) And, at that time, I thought it was one of the greatest films I had ever seen. (My brothers had taken me when I was younger to every John Wayne film released and they included even THE SEA CHASE, THE CONQUEROR and LEGEND OF THE LOST. As I said, everything!) So, a…

  THE UNFORGIVEN (not to be confused with UNFORGIVEN, Clint Eastwood’s great movie) is a movie I never grow tired of watching. (This one was directed by John Huston.) I loved this film from the moment I first saw it sitting in the 5th row aisle seat of the Wakefield Theater in the Bronx. I loved the visuals, loved the music and thought the actors especially good; most specifically Audrey Hepburn and Audie Murphy. I felt the same when I saw the film again on…

In addition to writing about the films of my youth I also wrote in FACEBOOK my experiences with all sorts of films.  Those I saw for the first time on TV and those I saw first on Home Video.  I also began writing about the American Film institute (AFI) 100 greatest Americans.   So in my blog posts, I am going to mix them up all together.  Here is the number one on the AFI list.   CITIZEN KANE     The first time I saw CITIZEN KANE was in…

    I had a Facebook page for close to 18 month and would write 1500-2000 word essays mostly about films but a little about myself. I had almost 3000 followers and an amazing amount of likes comments. I would write these essays four or five times a week and was religious about answering every comment. Along with the essay I also had a scan of the Poster for that particular movie. And with my replies relevant photos. As I thought I had a big…